From the series 'One Hundred Famous
Views of Edo' (Meisho Edo
hyakkei)

The kites are for the Boy's Festival on
the 5th day of the fifth month (mid-summer). The leaping carp is a
symbol of manly perseverance, and are shown here in exaggerated
scale, seeming artificially stuck into the landscape. They rise
higher than the
samurai
district of Surugadai across Suidō Bridge, higher than Edo Castle
(left) and higher even than Mt Fuji
itself.

The series
'One Hundred Famous Views of Edo' of 1856-58 (which
actually overran to 118 designs), was the final, crowning
achievement to Hiroshige's career. Twenty-one of the views
included Mt Fuji seen on the distant horizon and three more
featured the artificial hills constructed in various locations in
Edo (modern Tokyo) as 'mini-Fujis' by members of
the Fuji-kō (the Fuji cult). This was a self-help confraternity
(brotherhood) which encouraged pilgrimage, rituals and prayers
devoted to Fuji. One account of 1825 claimed as many as 70,000
devotees. The mini-Fujis were artificial Fuji-shaped hills set in
parks which allowed the infirm (or lazy) to engage in a substitute
pilgrimage - or simply to enjoy them as a kind of theme
park.